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From: tibbs@hpl.hp.com (Kevin W. Tibbs)
Subject: Re: Question:What is a Fluxgate
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Date: Sun, 12 Feb 1995 19:08:34 GMT
References: <KARL.9.000ED4DB@innet.be>
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In article <KARL.9.000ED4DB@innet.be>, Karl Lambrechts <KARL@innet.be> wrote:
>What is a fluxgate? Or is it called sometimes differently?
>
>I asked several friends herin Belgium, nobody could give an answer.
>
>Thanks
>
>Karl
>

First you take a magnetically permeable toroid and wrap a wire around it so
that it threads into the hole in the doughnut - wind multiple turns around
the length of the toroid.  Make sure to select the permeable material so
that as current is run through this wire, the core is run in and out of
saturation.

Second, you wind another wire across the whole width of the toroid.  This
will act as a pickup.

The idea of the fluxgate is to periodically pull in and push out lines of
magnetic flux by periodically saturating the core.  This movement of lines
of flux in and out of the pickup winding induces a voltage that is
proportional to the frequency of the core saturation and intensity of the
flux.

Kevin W. Tibbs
